Will new kick return rules force Vikings to lean into return game?
Which players will be in the mix for the returning roles?
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — Last year there was a wide range of approaches to the new kickoff rules in the NFL.
Teams that were trailing often in games like the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans had nothing to lose so they each cleared 40 kick returns in the debut season of the XFL-style play. Most other teams sprinkled in returns. There were 15 clubs that finished with between 25 and 35 returns on the season. And then there was a group that almost completely opted out of the play. The Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos each had 15 or fewer returns, opting for touchbacks instead.
The rules did enhance the number of returns per game overall, bringing back the play from the dead. The league average was 28.8 returns, up from 18.3 in 2023.
Apparently the progress was not quite enough to please NFL owners, who voted to bump the “Dynamic Kickoff” touchback up to the 35-yard line. They also changed the alignment rules to allow for a little more creativity.
Are the Vikings going to have to play ball now?
Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels seems to think so.
“I think when you look at it, it changes the game,” Daniels said. “I don't want to say drastically, but it changes the game a lot from a schematic standpoint, field position standpoint…The average drive start was right around the 28.5, 28.6-yard line [last year]…So now you take the touch back to the 35 yard line, guys are going to be more inclined to put the ball in play with what the average drive start was last year.”
While the Vikings may be forced into taking the ball out more often because opposing teams do not want to put their offense two first downs away from field-goal position from the jump, it isn’t clear following minicamp exactly how they will do it or who will be doing it.
Last year running back Ty Chandler was the team’s top returner with eight returns for 25.6 yards per attempt. They elected to roll with Chandler after cutting returner Kene Nwangwu, who had established himself as one of the most dangerous returners in the game with a prolific 2021 season (18 returns, 32.2 yards per return, two touchdowns) and then a strong follow-up year in 2022 with 35 returns at 26.3 per and one touchdown. Nwangwu only ended up returning three kicks in the NFL in 2024 due to injury (one was a touchdown, naturally).
Not having Nwangwu around leaves the competition wide open. Chandler has been competent at 25.2 yards per return on 12 career returns but not exceptional. The league average last year was 27.6.
The player who makes the most sense is cornerback Isaiah Rodgers. He has been a quality returner in his career, averaging 27.1 per try with 69 attempts and one touchdown. But those numbers came when Rodgers wasn’t a starter.
In Brian Flores’s 2025 defense, Rodgers appears to be a key starting outside cornerback.
“[Rodgers] has been an elite guy back there with the ball in his hands and he's starting at corner right now for us, so that would be a conversation [I have to have with] the upper management just in terms of how good we feel about our CB2 kind of being back there returning kicks,” Daniels said. “But when you look at the impact that this phase is going to have with the ball, being put in play and field position mattering so much, we got to be able to kind of weigh what the risk reward is going to be just in terms of trying to keep this guy healthy.”
Daniels, seemingly pleading his case to have the blazing-fast Rodgers back there, pointed out that last season data showed that the KR2 got injured more often than the KR1.
“If we can keep him away from being the off-returner, then I think we'll have some success just in terms of keeping him healthy,” Daniels said. “Love to have him back there, though…Not many guys that can bend and weave through traffic, but still maintain good speed as well and he's got such good hips and starts top ability that you appreciate and obviously he's got the gas to take it the distance.”
If the special teams coach doesn’t get to have his first choice in Rodgers returning, who else will be back there?
One potential option is third-round draft pick Tai Felton. He ran a sub-4.4 40-yard dash and was exceptional in terms of yards after catch.
“That dynamic factor of him being an explosive returner really adds in his value as a football player overall and when you cut the tape on the energy the love it just exudes off of the tape,” Daniels said of Felton. “You really appreciate the contagious energy that he plays with and he's dynamic with the football in his hands and we're gonna see how we can find ways to set it up to get him to rock whether it be on as a punt returner or a kickoff returner.”
The concern with Felton returning, however, is experience. At Maryland, the speedster only returned six kicks and two punts during his entire college career. Is he ready to take on a role that’s going to have a significant workload after barely returning before?
If not Chandler, Rodgers or Felton, who else might be in the mix?
The Vikings also signed former Arizona Cardinal Rondale Moore this offseason. In 2021, he brought back 13 returns for 291 yards (22.4 YPR). While he is coming off a serious knee injury, Moore was previously an exciting, explosive player with the combination of speed and shiftiness that got him drafted in the second round despite barely playing college football outside of his freshman season.
Others might include:
— Fourth-year receiver Tim Jones, who has two returns to his name as a member of the Jaguars.
— Jalen Nailor, who returned nine kicks in college and zero in the NFL.
— UDFA from Texas Silas Bolden. He totaled 41 returns in college (24.8 YPR)
— Backup RB Tre Stewart does not have experience but has the skillset.
— WR Myles Price was a quality punt returner (13.0 YPR) at Indiana.
The challenge for the Vikings in evaluating the kick returning game is that there aren’t exactly full-contact reps to work with during training camp. The best they will be able to do over the summer is to look at how players react to returning during joint practices and preseason games.
“It's gonna be interesting to see how really this whole phase continues to develop throughout the year,” Daniels said.